Lesson 15

Squad Goals

We are expanding Scratch Kitten's solo talent show act to include Scratch Kitten's squad! Students discover that they may copy code from one sprite to another by dragging and dropping. The result is an expressive introduction to parallelism!

Agenda

    • Warm-up: Activate prior knowledge about talent shows and flash mobs. Emphasize dancer synchronization. (5 minutes)
    • Main Activity: Students create a dance algorithm for one sprite, then drag the code to other sprites so they all move in sync. (20 minutes)
    • Debrief: Would it have been possible for us to program a Flash Mob of Bee-Bots? How? Student project showcase. (5 minutes)

Materials

  • Tablets: 1-2 per pair of students

Vocabulary

  • blocks - a visual unit of code
  • initialize - to set a computer program to a starting position, value, or configuration
  • parallelism - running several sets of instructions at the same time. (Definition from Scratch Jr. Coding Cards.)
  • sprite - a virtual object, animal, or person that a programmer controls with code

Additional Resources

  • Sample Programs:
      • Squad Goals - Mild
      • Squad Goals - Medium
      • Squad Goals - Spicy

Standards

  • CA CSS K-2. DA. 7 - Store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device, and define the information stored as data.
  • CA CSS K-2. AP. 14 - Develop plans that describe a program’s sequence of events, goals, and expected outcomes.
  • CA CSS K-2. AP. 15 - Give attribution when using the ideas and creations of others while developing programs.
  • CA CSS K-2. AP. 16 - Debug errors in an algorithm or program that includes sequences and simple loops.
  • CA CSS K-2. AP. 17 - Describe the steps taken and choices made during the iterative process of program development.